Improvement in safety-hatches



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT H. MARTIN, OF STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN SAFETY-HAfl'cI-uas.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 77,744, dated May 12,1868; antedated April 25, 1868.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT H. MARTIN, of Staten Island, in the county ofRichmond and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Safety Hatches or Hatchways, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and inwhich- Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a hatch or hoistway withmy improvement ap plied thereto; Fig. 2, a side elevation thereof', andFig. 3 a vertical section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral figures.

The many serious and often fatal accidents which have from time to timeoccurred in consequence ot' the exposed state of hatch or hoistwaysgenerally in stores, warehouses, and other places have led to varioussuggestions whereby greater security might be given to these structuresor contrivances, but as a general thing the closing of the hatchon anyone or more floors during the intervals when goods are not'being raisedor lowered up or down the y hatchway from one loor to another is let'tto the caprice or attention of those engaged on the hoist or to thewarehouseman whose duty it is to receive and deliver the goods. This isculpable neglect, however, as automatic or self-closing hatches areperfectly practicable but to make them advantageous there are manyrequirements or desiderata to be provided for, and these my inventionfully meets.

The nature of my improvement consists, first, in furnishing the hatchwayon any number or all of the floors with a counterpoised guard operatin gin combination with the hoist, and that, While at all times it leavesthe hatchway open, or may do so, to facilitate c'ommunication from iioorto floor or top to bottom of the hatchway,forms.a sure protectionagainst accident, and that is opened by the hoist with but little or nolabor, or may be opened by hand a clear run of the hoist from top tobottom ot' the hatchway, or vice versa, the safety-guards on or to allthe floors being kept closed.

To enable those Whom my invention concerns as regards construction andoperation to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itwith reference to the accompany ing drawings, in which the uprightsmarked A and cross-ties a represent the frame-work of a hatchway'in astore or warehouse, and the back andsides of which may be boxed orwalled in. It' it, however, be desired to have more than the front opento the several floors, then a similar arrangement of the safetyguards,hereinafter described may be applied to such communicating side or sidesas well.

The mechanism for operating the several safety-guards, it will beevident to almost any mechanic, may be variously changed or moditiedWithout departing from the principle .of my invention, only onepracticable combination of devices being here selected to illustrate myinvention, and in this connection I would observe that the counterpoisedsafety-guards, instead of being arranged to lift vertically, may, byonly slightly modifying the parts, move to open and close in difierentdirections. I however prefer a vertical action of them.

The hoist B itself and windlass C may be of any approved construction,and the lifting chain or rope b and its blocks or pulleys c, by whichpower is communicated from the windlass C tov the hoist B, should bearrangedor regulated to suit the character or weight of the goods to `beraised or lowered, and other circumstances.

D represents the ground-floor, and E and F upper stories or ioors,throughY whichI the hatchway passes. Beneath the ground-floor there maybe an extension ofthe hatchway communication with a basement or cellar.Each of said floors is closed against dangerous exposure or opening tothe hatchway by aboard or shutter, G, which forms the safety guard.

These -guards Gr are shown as extending for a safe height across thefront of the hatchway, and so as to slide up and down in its framework.They are counterposed, or nearly so, by balance-weights d, sliding invertical openings in the frame-work, and connected to the guards G bychains or ropes d', passing over pulleys e, and so that they (theguards) shut down or close and are` kept closed by their own weight, butmay be opened or raised by but a small extension of power in consequenceot' their being nearly balanced.

The hoist B may be made up ot' a platform, f. lower and upper sidebeau1s,ff2, uprights f3, and a cross-tie, f4, the uprightsf, it may be,in the operation of the hoist, sliding in or on guiding ways or stripsfurnished the hatchway, and the cross-tie]p4 serving to attach thelifting-rope b to.

Secured to the front ends of the lower beams, f', of the hoist are boxesg,which contain bolts h, that shoot outward by means of springs i, andare arrested in their outward throw by lipsj ofa lower attachment to thebolts striking stops lr, which project from pivoted plates L. Thebalance-weights d are provided on their inner sidesor faces with teethm, which are at at top, but beveled underneath.

Supposing the safetyfguard G of the groundfloor to be raised by theaction of the hoist on its balance-weights, as hereinafter described,and the platf'orlnj' of the hoist to be level with said floor, then the`bolts h will occupy an outward thrust above or on the top ofthe teeth mof the lower balance-weights. On starting to raise the hoist the lowerguard G will commence to fall or close as the bolts h cease to keep thelower balance-weigh ts down, thel guards, be it remembered, beingslightly heavier than the weights. The lower guard G being closed, thehoist, as it continues to rise toward the tirst upper loor E, will, bythe action of similar upper and inner spring-bolts,

n, connected with the upper side beams, f2, ot' the hoist, commence tolift the second guard G by reason of the upper bolts, at, coming incontact with projections o, tlat beneath but beveled above and attachedto said guard. The hoist still rising, the second guard G will, by thisconnection of the hoist with it, be lifted upward till fully open, when,if it be desired to receive or deliver goodsfrom orto that floor, theguard may be kept open by stopping and, it' necessary, locking thehoist. If, however, it is required to elevate the hoistto the door Fabove, then the upper bolts, a, asthev hoist rises past the under floorE, are released from their hold on the second guard G by said boltsriding over arched projections .p on` the framework ot' the hatchway,and whichcauses the upper bolts, u, to be pressed inwardl out of gearwith the guard-projections `o, thereby relieving i said guard, whichgently drops or closes by its slightly-excessive weight over that of itscounterpoise. About this. time, too, or shortly before the second guardis released, the lower bolts, h, are shot inwardby the combinedl actionof outer stationary arched pro jections, p', and the bevel of the teethm of the second guards balance-weights as said lower bolts pass theseparts or devices. After passing, however, the lower bolts againshootoutward over said teeth. The hoist continuing its ascent, the upperbolts, mnext comein contact with projections o on the top guard G,similar to the projections o ou the second guard, and lift or open theupper guard till fully open, when the platform ot' the hoist will be ona level, or thereabout, with the upper floor F. In this way any numberin succession of guards, according to the number of' Iioors the hoist isrequired to accommodate, may be raised and allowed to drop or closeduring the ascent ot' the hoist. In the descent ot' the hoist, also, asimilar automatic action takes place to lower goods from one tloor tothe other. Thus, supi posing the hoist to be at the top and the topguard G open, then as the hoist descends the upper bolts, n, leaving theprojections o' of the top guard, the latter closes, and on thelowerbolts, h, striking the teeth m of the balanceweightofthe second guard Gthe hoist becomes geared with said guard to raise it by depressing thebalanceweights thereof,` and while doing so the upper bolts, n, arepressed inward by riding over the stationary arched projections p toavoid contact with the guard or its projections. The hoist having raisedthe second guard G,

.and it being required to again and farther lower the hoist from thesecond guard-Hoor E to the ground-hoor D, the hoist in descending causesthe lower bolts, h, to ride over the stationary arched projection p',which presses them inward, and, releasing them from their lap on theirteeth m ot the second guards balance-weights, causes thelatter guard todrop or close, and when the lower bolts reach the teeth m ot' the lowerguard they, as the hoist farther descends, lift or open said guard bydepressing its weights, the upper bolts, n, meanwhile riding over thestationary arched projections p to avoid contact with the lower guard orits projections. It, however, is not always necessary in the working of`the hoist, either in ascending or descending, to stop` at each floor.Consequently it is useless and injurious in point ot' wear, as well asadding slightly to lthe labor of working the hoist, to raise and lowerthe safety-guards of those floors it is not designed to stop at. Toobviate this I connect the upper and lower bolts, It and n, with avertical slide, r, which is `attached at its lower end to` the pivotedplate l of the lower bolts, and at its upper end by a bell-crank, s, tothe upper bolts,-so that on lifting said vertical slide r the two setsof bolts will be drawn inward and unshipped from gear with thesafety-guards as they pass them, and may be kept or locked out of gearby the `man traveling on thehoist turning a lever, t, which may alsoanswer to lift the vertical slide r till a lip, u, on sai'dlever catcheson a stop, fv. By releasing the lever t from its catch on the stop 'vthe spring-bolts ily outwardv again, so that connection of the hoistwith the safety-guards is or may be re;es'tablished. This gives thedesired facility to the man on the hoist of lifting the guard of andstopping at any one Hoor and passing the others, or of running thehoistright through, up or down, without stopping or operating any of theintermediate guards. By hanging the guards independently of the hoistand nearly balancing them they may also be easily raised by hand if itbe desired to intercept the hoist; but on releasing the hand they becomeself-closing, which gives them their character of safety. In some casesthe guards may not be counterpoised.

What I claim herein as new and useful, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

1. The combination, with a hatchway-hoist to the several floors or anyof them of a warehouse or other structure, of partially balanced orcounterpoised safety-guards, substantially as speciiied.

2. The combination, with rising and falling or opening and closingsafety-guards to a hatchway on any or all of the floors of a building,of self-shooting bolts on the hoist operating automatically to open theguards both in the ascent and descent of the hoist, essentially as shownand described.

3. Providing the .hoist with nnshipping or back locking gear to itsself-shooting bolts for operation at pleasure of the latter with any oneor more of the safety-guards Without lifting the others on intermediatedoors, or for running the hoist up and down the hatchway Withoutstopping at or raising any of the guards, substantially as herein setforth.

ROBT. H. MARTIN.

